Mumbai: Even as Dalal Street wore a festive look to usher in the new Hindu calendar year, Samvat 2069, the benchmark 30-share Sensex of BSE Ltd ended lower after a volatile session in Muhurat trading as global stocks and the euro declined for a fifth straight session after European leaders and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) disagreed on a target for Greece’s debt reduction.

Trading started on an optimistic note with the Sensex notching up gains in early trade, but profit booking crept in soon after and the index closed at 18,618.87 points, down 0.28%, or 51.47 points. The broader 50-share Nifty of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE) ended the session at 5,666.95 points, down 0.29%, or 16.75 points.

“I think slowly retail participation is coming in. Small and midcap stocks generally move with a lag and they have more retail participation. From a Samvat-to-Samvat perspective, we are bullish on banking, fast-moving consumer goods, pharmaceuticals and automobiles,” said Motilal Oswal, chairman and managing director of Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.

“The mood is not much different from the last Samvat. Interest in the capital market is still at near all-time lows and that is what sets the stage for a new bull market. The world has many reasons to not invest, such as the growth slowdown, uncertainty over policy reforms, global worries and so on. But we are broadly bullish on the market,” said Hansal Thacker, director of Lalkar Securities, a Mumbai-based brokerage.

“A few stock picks for the new Samvat are Aegis Logistics, National Buildings Construction Corp. and Orissa Mineral Development Corp.,” he said.